Full Hyogo Review

Since I didn't get around to reviewing Hyogo's games until I had dates included, we've missed a lot.

Today the best 4 is being determined. At Akashi Kouen, Kansai Gakuin holds off a late charge by Kobe Kouryou 3-2. The matinee game see Ikuei clear Kagaku Gijyutsu 6-1.

Over at Himeji, Yashiro beats Sumoto 5-1, while Takigawa Dai-ni broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 6th and held on to win 3-2 over Shinkou Gakuen.

But let's see how we got here...

*flashback* ~~~~~ *waves hands* ~~~~~ *makes noises* ~~~~~

Hyogo is broken up into 16 blocks with several teams having to play an extra game.

On day 1 of the tournament, Tatsuno Jitsugyou held an early and comfortable 6-0 lead. But Itamiki Kita scores 5 in the 6th to cut the margin to 1. However that's as close as they'd get, falling 6-5.

Day 2 saw Kobe Murano Kougyou take a 2-0 lead against Nishinomiya Higashi, lose the lead, only to rally back to win 4-3.

The final day of the 1st round was highlighted by extra inning games. Higashi Harima and Kobe Tousen were stuck in a 1-1 draw until the 14th where Higashi Harima sent Kobe Tousen home. Yoshikawa broke a scoreless tie in the 10th against Amagasaki Nishi. And finally Kagaku Gijyutsu and Hyoko Kougyou threw up donut holes until the bottom of the 12th where Kagaku Gijyutsu scored the sayonara run.

We finally saw the top seeds play in the 2nd round. And of those 16, 4 would fall. In block 1, Amagasaki Oda was blitzed by Miki, 10-2 in 7 innings. Block 4 saw Kenritsu Ashiya unable to overcome an early 3-run deficit against Akashi Kita. Akashi Minami couldn't make a 1-0 lead stick late as Kakogawa Minami ties it in the 7th and breaks it open with 4 in the bottom of the 8th over at Block 10.

But the biggest upset by far was in Block 13. Tied 1-1 in the 7th, Shiritsu Amagasaki scores 3 against Toyodai Himeji. While Himeji gets one back in their half of the frame, that was all they could muster. Amagasaki advanced 4-2.

In other games, Sayo and Sanda Seiryou were tied 1-1 going into extras. When Sayo scored 1 in the 11th, so did Sanda. With time running out for both teams, Sayo comes through with 2 in the 14th to which Sanda Seiryou has no answer. Sayo's next opponent would be the combined team of Kobe Nishi and Masshoufu as they defeated Hikami 2-1.

Ichikawa slid by Tadaradzuka Higashi 1-0 in 12 innings while Hamasaka cried uncle against Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku, falling 13-3. Sumoto Jitsugyou faced the same fate versus Rokko Island, losing 13-6.

And finally, my Nishinomiya Kita (home of Haruhi) lost to Kawanishi Meihou 5-1.

As the tournament moved to round 3, all those upset teams managed to continue on into the block finals, with the exception of Miki. But they didn't go down without a fight. Against Amagasaki Sangyou they held the 4-2 lead. But Amagasaki was able to equalize in the 9th, and win in the 11th.

The Kobe Nishi/Masshoufu team moved on in the matchup against Sayo, blanking them 3-0.

After that rough start Kagaku Gijyutsu has quietly contines on its way, this time beating Kita Suma 5-3.

The top seeds continue to march to the block finals, although some had a little bit of a bump including Akou needed 10 to defeat Akashi Shougyou, Sanda Gakuen slid by Takigawa 2-1 and Itamiki Nishi who went 13 against Tsuna.

In the block finals, only one seeded team fell, and that was in block 11. Kakogawa Kita held a 3-2 lead over Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku, but then found themselves behind as Kobe scored 3 in the late innings to go ahead 5-3. Down to the final 3 outs, Kakogawa Kita rallies to tie the game! But the rally may have been too much as Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku scored in the bottom of the 10th to send the defending champions packing.

But many seeded teams had difficulties. Houtoku Gakuen scored the only run in the game against Kounan in the 7th. Ikuei and Kobe Kouryou followed the same blueprint against Ikawadani and Touban Kougyou. Itamiki Nishi needed 14 innings this time to win, this time against the combined Kobe Nishi/Masshoufu team. Akou needed all nine innings as they said sayonara to Awaji 3-2.

And Kagaku Gijyutsu, who almost didn't even make it past the first round, defeated Akashi Kita 7-0 to win block 4.

That brings us to the draw for the round of 16 and Best 8. And boy were there some interesting games.

Kagaku Gijyutsu continued its cinderella run, defeating Kakogawa Minami 1-0 in 13 innings. In a major upset, Kansai Gakuin held on to beat Houtoku Gakuen 5-4. Akou's run finally ran out of gas as Ikuei shut them out 3-0.

And all the other non-seeded teams remaining were weeded out. Kobe Kokusaidai Fuzoku had no answer to Yashiro losing 4-0. Shouyou held tough against Kobe Kouryou, but too were shut out 2-0. The best challenge was held by Shiritsu Amagasaki against Sumoto. Sumoto took an early 3-0 lead before Amagaski scored 4 in the 2nd to take the advantage. Sumoto ripped that right back with 5 in the 4th. Amagasaki wouldn't give in though, and tied it up 8-8 with 4 of their own in the 5th. But Sumoto would prove to be too much, scoring 4 in the 7th for a 12-8 victory.

And that brought us to today. Whoo hoo!